There Would Always be a Tomorrow
by eremiticAntiquarian
Summary: The Conclusion to the Hope Series [3 of 3] Ginny suspects Harry is having an affair, but not with the person she should be. Albus Severus and Scorpius grow closer. Harry laughs with Draco. And Ginny and Cho have a chat. HPDM ASS  DH Spoilers


It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. - **Robert H. Goddard**

Ginny Potter was becoming very suspicious of her husband. He walked around smiling stupidly all the time, which wasn't so unusual for Harry Potter to be doing. However, he wasn't smiling stupidly at her, about her, or around her anymore. Ginny suspected an affair. And she promised herself that if she did find that an affair was the cause of her husband's extreme happiness, she would not murder the father of her children.

She did have good reason to be wary of this unreasonable glee Harry possessed. Their middle child, Albus, was spending much more time with that dreadful Malfoy spawn that was his housemate and had even nicknamed her precious child after a filthy, slimy snake. And her husband was so proud of their friendship that he often accompanied their son on play dates to Malfoy Manor.

If it wasn't obvious that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy did not get along, one may consider it male bonding. If it wasn't obvious that Draco Malfoy and his wife had a marriage of convenience, she may just have thought that it was good for Harry to have another male friend who wasn't a professor who was away most of the year or his brother-in-law. If it wasn't for the fact that Scorpius Malfoy didn't look exactly like his father in his olive skin and slanted, almond shaped grey eyes... Much like Albus was the image of Harry only with Ginny's pale skin and freckles. Ginny would never have questioned Harry's joy or his accompanying his son for visits with the Malfoys... If only Draco Malfoy hadn't married Cho Chang.

Ginny suspected an affair.

But Cho Malfoy was never at Malfoy Manor. Her presence was only seen at holidays and events where the public image of two pureblood families lied in question. Purebloods were no longer trusted in the Wizarding World. Public image of secure, happy, law-abiding families was everything. Indeed, she lived at what became known in hushed whispers as the Butterfly House just outside of Edinburgh. She loved her son, but not her husband. Seeing her husband was a constant reminder of why they had agreed to marry in the first place. They knew that they both had loved someone else but would never have a second chance with that person. So in their shared sorrow, they created someone new to love.

Still, Ginny suspected an affair. She just knew that Cho was still after her husband.

And yet, the play dates, though the now teenagers hated them being called that, couldn't be more innocent on Harry's part. If Harry was ever innocent in the beginning anyway.

Most of the afternoon was spent in the manor's garden admiring roses, blossoming trees, and albino peacocks. Draco and Harry sometimes sat in silence, sometimes they gossiped about their jobs, their children, their wives. They were comfortable in each others' atmosphere. Harry knew that Draco never wanted to be a Death Eater and that he had caused the fall of a few of them. Draco knew that Harry had saved his life, _twice_ he would be reminded, and didn't have the same loathing that they did while they were students. Both attempted not to think of the things they did while they were students for a slight blush would rise to their cheeks.

Draco noted once, while his son and Harry's were raving over a Quidditch catalogue, that Asp was not his father. Harry was tan and rugged with messy black hair and the deepest green eyes that reflected the light of one too many Avada Kedavra's witnessed. Asp was slight and pale and delicate, the same messy black hair, but the eyes were wide and innocent. Draco found himself drawn to protect Asp in a paternal fashion, where he wanted to protect Harry with so many more unnamable emotions.

Harry could see Cho's influence in her only son. Occasionally he could catch glimpses of it in the smile flashed at Albus when talking about buying a new broom. He could see it in the shape of his eyes. He could see it in the slight difference in Scorpius' nose compared to the proud one on Draco's face. He could see some of her mannerisms influenced upon her son. Harry didn't know what scared him more, the fact that he could see Cho in so many aspects of Scorpius, or that he could also see so much more of Draco and he preferred that.

Harry knew Draco had changed. Draco knew Harry had changed. They were comfortable in their relationship.

Scorpius and Asp were casually sitting under a tree, enjoying the warm summer breeze rushing through the garden. The boys were dramatically gesturing at the sky and some images in a magazine they were looking at. The sat shoulder to shoulder with their arms locked, perhaps too close for just friends. They smiled at each other perhaps a little too lovingly. If their fathers had noticed, they hadn't said anything to them about the strange relationship. The teenagers actually believed that their fathers may also have such a relationship, or at least had one similar while they were at Hogwarts.

Scorpius was initially surprised the first time Asp took his hand and led him the empty common room of Slytherin. It was their first kiss. A long time coming, both recalled. It began with a pair of dry lips pressed awkwardly against the other boy's lips which were stiff and rigid. Then they relaxed. It became wet, and a little sloppy, when they picked up the pace. Hands gripped the fronts of the other's pajamas. Hands ruffled perfect blond hair, which had remained so even after an hour of sleep. Toes curled with the intensity and passion. Both boys had to wipe the saliva off their mouths, but Asp was slightly happier that his lips were no longer dry. And after a moment of questioning looks between the two, the tried for a better second kiss.

Nobody seemed to mind. Nobody seemed to know. And if they did, they were smart enough not to mess with two fifth year Slytherin whose fathers and mothers had been counted among the heroes of the last war. And if they did, they didn't show it at all. There were no whispers. No rumors. Asp had thought it all too clean and wondered if his older brother and older cousins in seventh and sixth years had anything to do with that.

Asp, revisiting these memories, laid his head on Scorpius' shoulder. The blond gave him a questioning look, but continued his monologue about the pros and cons of the new Nimbus model coming out in August before their sixth year began. Asp secretly plotted to buy one for his… his what? Boyfriend? Cheesy. Lover? No they hadn't gone that far. The other half of his soul? Yeah, something like that.

Scorpius and Asp made the best Beaters the Slytherin team had ever seen. It would have been Hogwarts as a whole, but Fred and George Weasley could never be topped for that spot. Asp was secretly grateful that this was the last year he'd have to play against his brother in Quidditch, he didn't like having to sent Bludgers after Gryffindor Chaser, James. Scorpius turned the page and Asp eyed the gloves and padding offered through the company with something akin to lust. The young Malfoy took note.

Harry and Draco sat chatting while their sons continued browsing. Draco leaned over and whispered something close to Harry's ear. The black-haired man let out a guffaw of laughter and threw his head back to the sky.

From around the bush on the gravel path, Ginny Potter heard this. She gasped at the sight of her husband. She couldn't remember the last time he had smiled at her like that. It was the kind of smile that reached his eyes and threatened to break his face in two. The red haired woman nearly charged down the path to demand an explanation. One small hand grabbed her arm and held her back.

"Cho," Ginny gasped.

"Don't interrupt them. Don't you see their peace, Ginerva," Cho Malfoy asked, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"All I can see is that my husband is being seduced. Probably in cahoots with you as well. Let me go, that's my husband!"

"And that's mine. Yes, they're having an affair-"

"What?!"

"-But it's not the type that you think. Nothing physical. It's an emotional affair. Which in this case, it is probably worse because he can't deny that it didn't mean anything and was just physical. Draco's lucky he has Harry," Cho smiled with another quick puff.

"Lucky? Emotional? How can you say these things? That's your husband, too."

"Yes. Yes it is. But Draco and I both loved someone else when we got married. Draco seems to have got his someone else. I'm still third in line, I suppose."

"So you were plotting after my husband, you bitch," Ginny fumed in a low whisper.

"Maybe," Cho offered Ginny a hit of her fag. "Or maybe no one is allowed to really have Harry. Anyway, Draco was there before you and I ever set eyes on him. You know that there had to be something there all those years in school. Draco told me about the Battle of Hogwarts, how it really changed him forever. He told me about those few shared moments being enough for him. Maybe he lied, he's a Slytherin at heart. My one kiss with Harry, my one date, that's all I'll ever have. You know we can barely look at each other without remember how painful our relationship was."

"But Harry chose me. He's my husband. He's the father of my children."

"And perhaps he always will be. Perhaps not. But there is an undeniable connection between those two that will never go away. And maybe they'll never act on it physically again, but you can never know. Are you willing to stay with Harry knowing that he was never yours to begin with," Cho questioned.

Ginny sighed and accepted Cho's fag. She took one long hit and hung her head. Exhaling the smoke, she looked up at the Asian woman before her and reluctantly walked away from the garden. Cho made her a cuppa and then they left.

Ginny filed for divorce the next day, claiming that she realized that the love they once shared didn't fill her heart anymore and that she had to let Harry go before hurting him.

Everyone seemed to understand. Including Cho, who read about it religiously in the Daily Prophet.

And for Asp and Scorpius, they knew. And they understood perhaps most of all. They had seen their mothers sit down for a smoke and a cup of tea that day. They had understood what it meant for them to hold in so much emotion. And they promised each other that they would stay true to themselves so that more women mourning men that they could never have didn't come into existence because of them. Perhaps for them, there would always be a tomorrow.


End file.
